Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Farmers and consumers in poor countries are now paying the price now for decisions made by well-fed Westerners, as reported by my colleagues Keith Bradsher and Andrew Martin in their front-page article on cutbacks in financing for agricultural research. They explain how the Green Revolution faltered after Western governments and agencies slashed funds for agricultural research, partly to shift money to other areas, like environmental projects, and partly because of opposition to high-yield agriculture from advocacy groups.

Having had the opportunity to travel to a few developing countries, you really begin to wonder what donors would think if they knew what was being done in their names. But like I've said, it would seem that environmentalism taken to its logical conclusions would have most of us either poor or dead.